IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Sr. No.130 Date of decision: 28.01.2026 Raj Kumar ....Petitioner Versus Income Tax Officer, Chandigarh ....Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK SIBAL HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE LAPITA BANERJI Present: Mr. Sunil K. Mukhi, Advocate, for the petitioner.

Ms. Urvahsi Dhugga, Sr. Standing Counsel Mr. Vaibhav Gupta, Jr. Standing Counsel and Ms. Kavita, Jr. Standing Counsel, for the respondents.

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DEEPAK SIBAL, J. (Oral)

1. Challenge in the present petition is to notice dated 08.03.2024 issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘1961 Act’), notice dated 19.02.2024 issued under Section 148A (b) of the 1961 Act and assessment order dated 24.01.2025 and all consequential proceedings for the Assessment year 2020-2021, on the ground that Issuing Authority had no jurisdiction to issue the same, in view of circular/notification dated 29.03.2022 of the CBDT, wherein, it has been specifically enumerated that National Faceless Assessment Centre (NFAC) has exclusive power to issue notice under Section 148 of the Act, 1961.

2. Learned counsel for petitioner contends that the issue involved in the present writ petition is cover